Elgar case: Gautam Navlakha brought to NIA court in Mumbai amid hearing on formalities for house arrest

Activist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, was on Tuesday brought to a special NIA court in Mumbai hearing the matter pertaining to his release formalities from jail for house arrest.

The other accused in the case were also brought to the court from the jail as the case was listed on Tuesday for regular hearing.

The Supreme Court had last week allowed Navlakha, lodged at the Taloja Jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai, to be placed under house arrest for a month owing to his medical condition. But, he could not walk out of the jail as formalities for his release were under process.

The 70-year-old activist, who claims to be suffering from multiple ailments, is in custody since April 2020 in the 2017-18 case.

On November 10, the Supreme Court allowed Navlakha to be put under house arrest for a month with certain conditions and had said its order should be implemented within 48 hours.

The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the 'Elgar Parishad' conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city.

According to the Pune police, people linked to banned Maoist groups had organised the programme.

The case, in which over a dozen activists and academicians have been named as accused, was later handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).